Wayne
Rostad (2003)
 Wayne
Rostad's career has always been an interesting combination of
singing, songwriting and broadcasting. He began in radio in 1969,
working as an all-night disc jockey in Smiths Falls, Ontario and
later as a TV news anchor in Kingston. At the same time, he began
entertaining in local coffee houses, performing some of his original
compositions. Even then, Wayne's songs reflected a passion
for people, their lives and activities. After leaving radio and
TV temporarily to pursue his entertaining and songwriting interests
full-time, Wayne returned to broadcasting in 1975 as Music Director
for CKBY-FM in Ottawa, moving on a year later to CJCN Radio, in
Grand Falls, Newfoundland as Program Director. In 1979, Wayne
released his first musical album, Writer of Songs, which earned
him two Juno Nominations and won an RPM Big Country Award as Most
Promising Male Country Singer in Canada. That same year, he accepted
an invitation to host CBC Ottawa's Country Report. The rural lifestyles
show quickly became a local hit, winning several Ottawa ACTRA
Awards for Best Host and Best Program and two Anik Awards (the
CBC's most prestigious award) for Best Regional Variety Series.
In 1987, Country Report evolved into a national series, On The
Road Again with Wayne Rostad. In its ten year broadcast history,
On The Road Again has won four Gemini awards for Best Lifestyle
Series in Canadian Television, the Yorkton Short Film and Video
Festival Award for Best Entertainment Series in Canadian Television
and several Anik Awards as Best Network Entertainment Series on
CBC. Wayne himself has been honoured with no less than seven Gemini
nominations as Best Host. Wayne also hosted the 1993 one-hour
CBC Canada Day special, The Place We Call Home, which received
a prestigious international Peabody Award Nomination. In 1996,
Wayne and On The Road Again were further recognized beyond Canadian
borders when the program was awarded the New York Festival Gold
Medal for Best Human Relations Series.
Musically, Wayne has, to date, released three solo albums of original
compositions: Writer of Songs, Again and most recently, Storyteller.
In October 1996, singer, songwriter, entertainer, broadcaster
and public speaker Wayne Rostad became an author, when McClelland
and Stewart launched Wayne Rostad, On The Road Again in hardcover.
The book details his travels in Canada, the people he has met
along the way and amusing behind the scenes anecdotes about the
making of the television series. The book became a best-seller.
Wayne has engaged in charitable works throughout his career. In
February 1998, he spearheaded and co-hosted Power Aid Live, which
generated more than six million dollars for the Ice Storm Relief
Fund. He regularly co-hosts the Children's Miracle Network Telethon
in Ottawa, and is also the host of the University of Ottawa Heart
Institute Telethon. Wayne Rostad's Gatineau Clog was for fifteen
years one of Canada's most successful annual outdoor music festivals,
raising close to a half million dollars for community hospitals
and service organizations. In recognition of his charity work,
Wayne has received many accolades, among them the Canadian Country
Music Association's Fender Humanitarian Award, a Rotary Club Paul
Harris Fellowship, and most recently, Lions International honoured
him with its highest all Canadian award, the Brian Stevenson Fellowship.
Home for Wayne, his wife Leanne and son Josh, is a farm near Ottawa.
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